What Is A Hot Dish And How Does It Differ From A Casserole?

Two things that people love to argue about are food terms and regional food preparations, and the messy debate between hot dish and casserole encompasses both. While casserole is widespread throughout the country, hot dish is specific to Minnesota and border regions of North Dakota and western Wisconsin in the upper Midwest. The term "hot dish" first showed up in a local Minnesota cookbook in 1930, in the era when canned goods were leading to the first rise of casseroles, and the term has become heavily associated with state. Anytime a type of food becomes that engrained within a specific region's identity, debates about what makes it different from other recipes become fraught, and certainly many Minnesotan families have their own definitions that even their relatives might not agree on.

Thankfully, there are some general guidelines regarding hot dish that most people won't argue with. First off, hot dish is a type of casserole recipe, but not all casseroles are hot dishes. It's essentially a regional subcategory of the larger term, which refers to any one-pot meal that is baked in a casserole dish. Hot dish follows a formula that is more narrow than casserole, and it is meant to be a meal in itself, so side dishes like green bean casserole wouldn't count as a hot dish. Instead you need at least four, and ideally five, separate components to make a rib-sticking hot dish.

Because hot dish is meant to be a whole meal, and a filling one at that, the first two essential aspects it must include are a meat and a starch. They could be ground beef and potatoes, chicken and noodles — you name it. But Midwesterners don't neglect their vegetables, and another hot dish must is including some kind of veggie in the casserole, usually a canned or frozen option like peas or corn. Finally, everything has to be held together by a creamy and saucy binder. This is where cans of cream of mushroom soup come in, although canned tomato soup and other choices abound as well. The fifth optional addition, or not so optional depending on who you ask, is cheese.

Of course you can't mention hot dish without mentioning tater tots. They were introduced in 1953 and have since become a go-to staple for the starch part of the hot dish equation. While not essential to a hot dish — although, again, some people would beg to differ – tater tots are the quintessential starch and topping for this style of casserole. A tater tot hot dish recipe is the perfect introduction for anyone trying to understand what makes a hot dish special in a way words cannot describe. It's simple, convenient, affordable, hearty, flavor-packed, and it all melds into one unified bite that is greater than the sum of its parts. It's a casserole, yes, but it's a hot dish casserole.